The purpose of this article is to outline the release of prisoners in South, Africa. Most prisoners leave prison on unconditional (after the prisoner has completed the full period of his sentence or with remission) or conditional release (on parole or under correctional supervision).

I have lived to the age of twenty three years and I had never known that here really was a world such as this, here in our own midst, with its own criminal parlance, and its own terribly different, terribly mysterious way of life (Bosman 1983:21). These words belong to South Africa's celebrated poet and teller of tales, Herman Charles Bosman, who, as a youth in his twenties, was in 1926 sentenced to death for the unpremeditated murder of his step-brother.

This article gives a theoretical exposition of the meaning of police brutality. An intensive study of the literature reveals various definitions for police brutality and it is clear that the term covers the full range of police practices.

In the last decade the mass media worldwide has become more influential and more powerful. After it became possible in the Federal Republic of Gennany in the fifties to receive one TV programme and in the sixties and seventies to receive three TV programmes, the number of TV programmes which can be received has risen through cable TV to eleven or more programmes in the last years, reaching a huge part of the population in Western Europe.

The crime causation hypothesis is generally used in policing as a theoretical framework to explain general criminal behaviour (Prinsloo 1991 :37). Crime is defined as the result of interaction between a desire to commit crime and the belief that an opportunity exists.

The concept pornography is derived from the Greek words porne and graphein which, translated literally, mean to write about either prostitutes or female prisoners. Although pronography originally meant writing about the lowest class of prostitutes, its meaning has changed to such an extent that today it refers to sexually explicit material that is presented in such a way that nothing is left to the imagination. In addition, the sole objective is to stimulate sexually (Theron 1988).

Juvenile delinquency is a universal phenomenon, studied by criminologists worldwide. When juvenile crime is presented as a part of criminological studies, mainly descriptionption and discussion of certain themes are usually dealt with.

The first time in many years, world peace and freedom from dictatorial control actually seems possible in many countries. There have been more people marching and protesting than ever before in countries all over the world, particularly in South Africa.

Westernisation of blacks is one of the major reasons for the phenomenon of black street children in South Africa (Peacock 1989; Swart 1988a). Westernisation promotes the loss of traditional cultural values, which may then result in a disruptive urban family life.

Family murder is a complex phenomenon which does not readily lend itself to scientific investigation (Graser 1987: 262-268). As frequently both parents and all or most of the children die in such a tragedy, it is difficult to determine exactly what led to the tragedy.

The police role is one of those social roles about which there is widespread uncertainty, particularly because, more than any other role, it consists of a service from and to society. It can never be performed in isolation, for it involves constant interaction with society.

The aim of this article is not primarily to compare male with female crime, but to treat female criminality as a topic in its own right. The author subsequently anticipates a clear distinction between female criminality and male criminality.